Copyright & DMCA

Last updated: 14 September 2026

Aequorea is built by and for artists, and we take the rights of creators seriously. This page explains how to tell us that something on the Website, in the App or in the Museum infringes your copyright, what we do when we receive a notice, and how to respond if one of your own works was removed. We handle notices under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) and, for rights holders and users in the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Our full rules on content are in the Terms and Conditions.

Contents

• 1. Before you file
• 2. How to submit a copyright notice
• 3. What happens next
• 4. Counter-notice: if your work was removed
• 5. Appeals
• 6. Repeat infringers
• 7. False notices and counter-notices
• 8. Other complaints

1. Before you file

• Only the copyright owner, or someone authorised to act for them (for example a label, publisher, agent or lawyer), can send a notice. If you are not the owner or their representative, you can still tell us about content that concerns you at support@aequoreavictoria.com, but we cannot treat it as a formal notice.
• Consider whether the use might be lawful without permission, for example quotation, parody, criticism, or a use covered by a licence the artist has. Sending a notice for a use you know is lawful can make you liable (see Section 7).
• If the problem is not copyright (a trademark, an image of you, defamation, harassment, a privacy issue), please see Section 8 instead.
• Every submission to Aequorea is reviewed by a person before it is published, and every submitter confirms that they hold the rights to the work. That review is not perfect, and we rely on rights holders to tell us when it fails.

2. How to submit a copyright notice

Send your notice by e-mail to dmca@aequoreavictoria.com. So that we can act on it, the notice must include all of the following:

• Your details: your full name, postal address, telephone number and e-mail address, and, if you are acting for someone else, who you represent and in what capacity.
• The work you say is infringed: a description of the copyrighted work, and where we can see the original (a link, a registration number, or a copy).
• The material you want removed: the exact URL of each artwork, artist page or comment on the Website, or enough detail to find it in the App or the Museum (artist name, work title, room). One notice may list several items.
• Why it infringes: a short explanation of why you believe the material infringes your rights, for example that it is a copy of your work, or a work you licensed only to someone else.
• A good-faith statement: "I have a good-faith belief that the use of the material described above is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law."
• An accuracy statement: "The information in this notice is accurate, and I am the copyright owner or authorised to act on the owner's behalf." Under the DMCA this statement must be made under penalty of perjury.
• Your signature: a physical or electronic signature (typing your full name is sufficient).

Notices that are missing any of this may be delayed while we ask you for the rest, or may not be acted on. We will use your contact details only to process the notice, to communicate with the person who shared the material as described in Section 3, and as set out in our Privacy Policy.

3. What happens next

• Acknowledgement. We confirm receipt by e-mail, normally within two business days.
• Assessment. A person checks that the notice is complete and, on its face, credible. We do not judge the merits of an ownership dispute; we act on notices that are sufficiently precise and substantiated.
• Action. Where the notice is valid we disable access to the material promptly, in the Website, the App and the Museum, and we tell you what we did. For clearly infringing material this usually happens within a few business days of a complete notice.
• Telling the user. We tell the person who shared the material that it was removed, why, and give them a copy of your notice (including your name and, if they need it to respond, your contact details) so that they can reply or file a counter-notice. We also tell them how to appeal.
• Records. We keep a record of every notice for up to five years to apply our repeat-infringer policy and to respond to legal claims.

4. Counter-notice: if your work was removed

If we removed or disabled something you shared because of a copyright notice, and you believe that was a mistake (for example, you are the author, you have a licence, the material was misidentified, or the use is lawful), you can send us a counter-notice at dmca@aequoreavictoria.com. Please do so from the e-mail address linked to your account or submission, and include:

• Your details: your full name, postal address, telephone number and e-mail address.
• The material: what was removed and where it appeared before removal (the URL, or the artist name, title and room).
• Why it should be restored: a short explanation, with any evidence you have (your original files, a licence, correspondence, dates).
• A good-faith statement: "I have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification." Under the DMCA this statement must be made under penalty of perjury.
• Consent to jurisdiction (DMCA counter-notices only): a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court for the district in which your address is located or, if your address is outside the United States, of any judicial district in which Aequorea may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who sent the original notice or their agent.
• Your signature: a physical or electronic signature.

What we do with a counter-notice:

• We confirm receipt and check that it is complete.
• We forward a copy, including your name and contact details, to the person who sent the original notice. That is a legal requirement, and it is the reason we need those details.
• Under the DSA (which applies to everyone using our services in the EU), a person reviews the counter-notice and the original notice together. If we conclude the complaint was unfounded or the removal was a mistake, we restore the material and tell both sides.
• Under the DMCA (where the original notice was a DMCA notice), we restore the material between 10 and 14 business days after receiving a valid counter-notice, unless the person who sent the original notice tells us within that time that they have filed a court action seeking to restrain you from using the material.
• We cannot restore material where doing so would be unlawful, and we may decline to restore material that breaks our Terms for reasons unrelated to the notice.

5. Appeals

Whether you sent a notice or your material was removed, you can appeal our decision by writing to support@aequoreavictoria.com within six months of being told about it. Say which decision you are appealing and why. A person who was not involved in the original decision will review it and reply. Appeals are free. If you are in the EU and are not satisfied with the outcome, you may refer the dispute to an out-of-court dispute settlement body certified under the DSA, or go to court. Nothing here limits your right to take legal action at any time.

6. Repeat infringers

We close the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe the rights of others. As a rule, three valid notices against the same account within any 12-month period, not overturned by a successful counter-notice or appeal, will lead to termination. We may also terminate after a single clear and serious infringement, such as uploading another artist's entire work under your own name. People whose accounts are closed under this policy may not open new ones.

7. False notices and counter-notices

Knowingly misrepresenting that material is infringing, or that it was removed by mistake, can make you liable for damages, including the costs and legal fees of the person harmed and of Aequorea (in the United States, under section 512(f) of the DMCA). We may also ignore further notices from senders who repeatedly submit abusive, unfounded or manifestly incomplete notices, after warning them, and may suspend or close the accounts of users who file false counter-notices.

8. Other complaints

For complaints that are not about copyright, write to support@aequoreavictoria.com with the URL or location of the content and an explanation. This includes:

• Trademark misuse in a name, work or profile;
• Images or recordings of you shared without your consent, or other privacy concerns;
• Impersonation of you or your organisation;
• Defamation, harassment, hate speech or other content that breaks our acceptable use rules; and
• Content you believe is illegal under EU or national law. Under the DSA you can notify us of illegal content in the same way as a copyright notice; we will assess it and tell you what we decided.

Requests from public authorities and courts should be sent to support@aequoreavictoria.com, marked "legal request".